Thank You from El Calafate - Airbus Perlan Mission II

At the end of a successful campaign there are many people to thank. First is all the team members who traveled to El Calafate taking from 3 weeks to 3 months out of their busy lives. Each one of us put the mission above our personal lives and it is deeply appreciated! The team members who supported from outside El Calafate were also important to our success. We knew we could count on them to assist with any challenge.

Not enough good things can be said about Airbus sponsorship of the Perlan Project. They offered any support or guidance when we needed it. Key Airbus personnel have traveled to Perlan's various locations like Minden, Oshkosh, and 2 times to El Calafate. That's dedication, and we deeply appreciate their support.

All of our sponsors are vital to the success of the mission. Many gave us products that increased our safety or our comfort. Many gave us money which was used to insure success, some before Airbus became our title sponsor. Many gave us support from their agency, club, or organization. And each of those sponsors can feel part of the pride of accomplishing the highest ever soaring flight.

Inside Argentina we had strong support from individuals and organizations. This included not only aviation groups, but restaurants and even laundry folks from the town of El Calafate. Yes we can get the container shipped to El Calafate. Yes you can rent all 10 cabins for 10 weeks. Yes you can rent our tow plane. Yes you can have that insulated flight suit clean by 7 pm today. Yes you can bring 20 people to dinner at our restaurant with next to no advanced notice. Yes you can use the civic auditorium for presentation to our students. Yes you can get one more seat on the glacier tour boat after the deadline on a Sunday evening. The entire town of El Calafate is awesome!

And the airport is even more awesome. There are so many examples of strong support, but here are just a few. Yes you can have a glider operate safely amongst commercial traffic. Yes you can have a multide of team members operate at the hangar. Yes you can amend your flight plan to delay (another) hour. Yes you can borrow a tall ladder for an ice jamb at the top of a hangar door. Yes you can get the ramp plowed from snowfall. Yes you can get an air bottle on the runway for your flat tire. Yes you can have the employee discount at the cafeteria. Yes we will fill your hangar water tank when the underground pipes freeze.

But a special mention must go to Aero Club Lago Argentino who opened their hangar doors to us, and welcomed us into their hearts. We used the club office for CapComm and their Ready Room for all else. The final farewell dinner had to be at German's house with the fantastic homemade pizza. We toasted our friendship and achievements, and who better to celebrate the cover photo for this week's Aviation Week magazine than with our totally awesome friends. And for those who have watched the video about the high flight, that is German in the white cap that Jim threw his arms around and exclaimed "We did it!"

The final thank you goes to you, the reader. We have enjoyed sharing our experiences with fans of the Perlan Project. We learned something with every flight. The team has some ideas for improvements over the next few months. We will blog when something interesting occurs. There are several more blogs to come about other Perlan activities. Keep following our Perlan Project social media.